Nov




th
6
Sign in
Finish Lecture 6
Lecture 7: Global Stratification
Homework:


Davis, Mike Global Slums Chp 1-3
Summary of SL Interview #1
Lecture 7
Global Inequality
Global Inequalities

Global Inequalities
 The three richest people in the world own more than the
combined GDP of the 48 least-developed countries
 The richest 1% of the worlds population earns more than the
bottom 57%

US vs. Other Countries: Vast inequalities
 Income
 Infrastructure
 Health and Education

Paradox of plenty
 Why do we have inequality with so much wealth?
Modernization Theory

Global inequality results from dysfunctions
internal to poor societies themselves

Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth





Traditional society
Transitional stage
Take Off
Drive to Maturity
High Mass Consumption
Historical Inequalities

The richest countries of the world experienced the
industrial revolution in the 1800’s and early 1900’s


During this time European powers fought each other over
colonial territories
Colonization: a foreign power uses its superior
military force to impose its political, economic,
social, and cultural institutions on an indigenous
population with the aim of dominating their
resources, labor, and markets

Britain, the Caribbean, and India
Colonies in 1898
Human Development Index 2006
Dependency Theory

Focuses on relationship between rich and poor
countries


The history of colonialism needs to be taken into
account when examining global inequality today


Development of some was dependent on the
underdevelopment of others
Neo-colonization: through economic and political means –
not military force – countries are forced into dependency
Development comes with Underdevelopment
Newly Industrializing Countries

New, rapidly growing economies of the world
started in emerge in the 1970’s

How did the Asian Tigers (and also Latin
America) do it?




Colonial relationships
Economic and military aid
Strong central gov’t
Global economic growth
World Systems Analysis

Global capitalist development creates an
integrated world system with three tiers




Core: major sources of capital and technology
Periphery: raw materials and cheap labor
Semi-Periphery: core in decline or periphery
moving up
Mobility is upward and/or downward
Global Integration: Whose Rules?

Political and economic relations among the
most powerful countries (USA, Japan,
Germany, China…) shape the world economy

Integration into the global economy is based
on the economic theory of comparative
advantage

Uneven “playing field”
Biopiracy and Gene Theft

Biopiracy: appropriation of genetic material
by foreigners

‘Discovering’ traditional knowledge

Intellectual Property Rights and TRIPS

Extracting from the periphery:


Global South: 90% of biological wealth
Global North: 97% of patents
Best Explanation?

Thinking about the readings for today, which
theory do you think best explains global
inequality & global poverty today?



Modernization
Dependency
World Systems Analysis